Final phase: Arizona firm takes over as provider for counseling center patients

State says Las Cruces patients won't see change; FYI next

Shari V. Hill-Sun-News
A U-Haul moving truck is seen outside of the Southwest Counseling Center on Friday as officials vacate the property and the Tucson-based company La Frontera takes over operations to provide services to the community in the wake of a controversial state investigation regarding Medicaid fraud at 15 behavioral health centers across the state. (null)

LAS CRUCES >> Barbara Apodaca went to her car Friday morning to retrieve a time card. Before she returned inside Southwest Counseling Center, her employer for ten years, she stopped to look at the building's distinctive sign.

"It's hard to see it end," Apodaca said. "What do you do? You just have to go with the flow."

For Apodaca, that means returning to her job Monday -- for a new company.

Over the weekend, Southwest Counseling Center officials moved out of the headquarters at 100 West Griggs Ave., the apparent final step of a transition forced upon them by a controversial, state-ordered audit that allegedly revealed Medicaid fraud at 15 New Mexico behavioral health providers.

In Southwest Counseling Center's place steps La Frontera Center, a Tucson-based nonprofit. It will serve as the provider for the roughly 3,000 patients that had utilized Southwest Counseling Center every year.

During the past week, La Frontera Center officials met with about 120 Southwest Counseling Center employees, such as Apodaca, at a local hotel. Apodaca said La Frontera Center personnel described it as a "formality" rather than an interview.

Southwest Counseling Center CEO Roque Garcia said La Frontera Center offered jobs to all previous staff members -- Garcia excluded. He said some staffers have declined, though he would not say how many or identify their roles at the facility.

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"That's not to say anything about (La Frontera Cener)," Garcia said. "They just had a bad taste in their mouths from the way this was done. If that's the way it's going to be across the state, every health care provider should have serious concern how this was done."

Southwest Counseling Center was among eight of the audited that had petitioned a federal judged, hoping to restore Medicaid funding. The state Human Services Department froze that money upon turning the hidden audit over to the state Attorney General, and the providers contend that action violated Constitutional rights. Last week, U.S. District Chief Judge Christina Armijo denied the providers' temporary restraining order.

"This is due process that's been eliminated," said Garcia, who, like others in his position, is upset about being painted as guilty by the state without having an opportunity to defend himself or even see detailed charges.

The disputed audit has not been released publicly.

HSD officials have adamantly maintained they followed properly the federal guidelines regarding the stopping of Medicaid payments in such situations. Just as strongly, they also said the pending overhaul will not affect patients.

That doesn't mean the transitions will be easy.

La Frontera Center CEO Dan Ranieri did not respond to interview requests from the Sun-News, but he told The Taos News late last week that he expected challenges in taking over the workload of Southwest Counseling Center, which had been in operation since 1963 thanks to an initiative from President John F. Kennedy.

Garcia said Southwest Counseling Center is the first of the 15 audited mental health care providers to experience this transition.

Still, Ranieri expressed confidence.

"This is what we do," Ranieri told The Taos News. "We are community problem solvers."

In the coming weeks Ranieri and his crew could be repeating a similar procedure for Families and Youth, Inc.

Jose Frietze, the longtime CEO of the organization known as FYI, said Friday all of its services overseen by OptumHealth will likely be transferred to HSD soon. He said the state has held more than $1.5 million in payments to FYI, but because of their manifold services, it still has about $3 million on other contracts.

Earlier this month FYI had hoped furloughs could help extend the life of Medicaid-dependent services. But Judge Armijo's decision last week changed matters.

"That really put a whole new picture of what we were facing," Frietze said.

Uncertainty looms. Frietze has a meeting with HSD officials set for Monday and they have offered some funds to FYI to aid the transition -- just like HSD did for Southwest Counseling Center -- but those were only talks, he said.

FYI runs group homes and other services for children and teens, which Frietze said HSD wants to keep open.

"It's up in the air," he said. "Are they going to be able to give us the money? They've asked me to keep them open, but I don't have funding."

The lack of stability is particularly damaging, Frietze said, to the children in his programs.

"Each time a kid's moved it's a traumatic experience for them because they've been moved so many times," Frietze said, noting FYI cares for many foster kids. "Everybody's worried, not only the kids. The staff is worried."

Frietze said La Fontera Center likely will have to use FYI's existing group homes and other facilities, though he hasn't talked yet to officials from that organization.

Southwest Counseling Center will still exist as a corporation, he added. That means Garcia and other officials spent part of last week setting up expensive record storage. He said they plan to keep it for their eventual defense.

"We feel there is no fraud, but they might find some mistakes," Garcia said.

Public Consulting Group, the Boston-based firm that audited the 15 providers under state contract, has been criticized for similar actions in North Carolina.

It's not clear if PCG has ever audited La Frontera Center.

Apodaca, who soon will be employed by La Frontera Center, isn't thinking about those aspects of the transition. She's trying to stay positive.

Apodaca said her pay did not change, but noted that she lost half her allotted vacation time due to transition because it cleared her seniority.

While she was explaining that, Chris Lopez, who works nearby, wished her well.

Before he left, Lopez said: "Have you ever seen state-sponsored corporate takeover? That's what this is."

Apodaca reflected on her happy memories at Southwest Counseling Center.

"We should take some chips of the sign," she said. "Just to remember."